


Hair of the Dog

by Venticelli



Category: A Christmas Carol (TV 2019), A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol - Fandom
Genre: Afterlife, Animal Transformation, Black Dog, Black Shuck, Body Horror, Cemetery, Comfort, Dogs, Emotional Baggage, Gen, Ghosts, Guilt, Jacob being dense as lead, Monsters, Responsibility, Shame, Transformation, accountability
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:49:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24449872
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Venticelli/pseuds/Venticelli
Summary: Jacob Marley hoped that resting eternally would come easily to him after the trials of Ebenezer Scrooge, but to his great dismay he finds himself unable to slip into the quiet darkness of oblivion. However, it seems he is haunted by things besides his fellow ghosts. If this is not what he wants for his eternity then what is a restless spirit like him supposed to do? Well, as it would turn out there are many more spirits that just those of Christmas who are looking for souls like Marley's to be put to good use.
Relationships: Jacob Marley/His Anxieties
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Hair of the Dog

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a little AU that's been kicking around my head for quite some time that follows after the events of the 2019 miniseries. I've always really liked black dogs/shucks and decided, hey, why not mash that interest together with A Christmas Carol? After all, black dogs are from the right area and also ghost related, so really...it was only a matter of time before I made this fusion anyway. I also may have just really wanted an excuse to right an unknowable entity and a funky little transformation sequence...either way it ended up being just over 11 pages long so like...there ya go.
> 
> I also found myself wanting Jacob Marley to do more with his afterlife than the 2019 miniseries gave him. If he's not wandering the earth carrying the weight of his sins then I will give him something else to do because I (as a matter of personal preference) refuse to let that man have a quiet afterlife.

He had been promised peace, promised a bit of quiet to finally get the rest his weary soul so desperately desired. And yet, Marley was restless, fitful even, his mind continuing to buzz with feelings of guilt and of longing. The din was so loud it made his head hurt.

 _But why?_ Had he not repented? Had he not helped to save the soul of Ebenezer Scrooge? Why then did he still feel so heavy? He knew the chains were gone, and yet he still felt choked as if there was black smoke in his lungs and bricks upon his chest? The threat of that horrid pyre was gone, and yet his face still felt flush with its warmth.

Opening his eyes, he expected the darkness of the grave to greet him as it had done for the year he had been trapped there. But instead he was greeted by the graveyard...no, that wasn’t right. Jacob turned his head to look around, but it was unfamiliar. 

This was not _his_ graveyard. 

The headstones grew out of the ground at strange angles, and the shapes were odd in a way that the ghost could not get them into focus without his head starting to spin and his vision to blur. They stretched out in front of him endlessly, dark shapes against pristine snow that fell gently from the black-blue sky, heavily dotted with stars in constellations Marley did not recognize. The ghost picked up his head just enough to see ahead of him, but the view was the same from every angle. There was no gate and city beyond and no trees or poorly maintained hedges. Only the vastness of the sky and the unending graves. 

And most distressing of all was the silence. There was nothing but the graves and the snow and the lonely ghost that surveyed them

He pushed himself up slowly, unbothered by the chill of the snow against his fingers, and leaned back until he met something solid. It must have been another one of those headstones, and he clenched his eyes shut. He wasn’t sure why, but he was sure there would be some kind of punishment for touching one...but nothing happened. His eyes opened and he turned around to see that it was only his own gravemarker. He breathed a sigh of relief, though the irony of seeing your own headstone bringing comfort to you was hardly lost on him. 

Finely detailed and obviously expensive...he had not set this kind of money aside for such a thing. Of all the things he’d prepared for, dying had not been one of them. He traced the letters of his name with his fingers, the two dates, and considered the cost of each letter as a lump formed in his throat. There was only one person who had the means and perhaps motive to pay for something like this.

But he did not have time to grieve, the sudden pang of loneliness leaving him almost instantly as his whole being was struck with something new. Alarming and unfamiliar but actively so as opposed to the passive strangeness of the graveyard.

There was a soft of static that hung in the air. Jacob knew exactly what it was, and that realization caused his whole body to tense defensively. It was another spirit like the ones he met before around that blazing pyre, and nausea bloomed in his stomach. _No_ ...not another one. Not _another_ test. He could not do this, not again...but he knew that he could not turn this thing away no matter how much he pleaded. Just like the others, Jacob knew it would not let something so small as his anxieties deter it in its mission.

He turned his head from side to side but could not see it, could not hear it. And yet he felt its presence all around him. It tickled like cobwebs on his skin and held him like clawed hands around his wrists. Breath hot against the back of his neck that carried with it the scent of iron and dirt and something else that seemed almost sweet but in a way that turned his stomach. Marley closed his eyes, bending down onto the snowy ground. He had no heartbeat left, and yet he could still feel it hammering in his chest as he hid behind his gravestone, feeling small and frightened like a mere child. 

“ _Jacob…_ ” came the being’s voice, fractured into many smaller voices that somehow still spoke as one. “ _Jacob Marley...do not hide from me, boy. It is rude to hide from those that offer you only kindness._ ”

It knew his name. And why wouldn’t it? He knew there were spirits in this realm with far greater power than his. And they _knew_ him. Called him by name in voices that terrified him but also tasted of honey on his tongue. Jacob wanted to stay huddled and hidden, but what good would it do? Whatever this presence was, it would wait as long as it needed for him to come to it. Of that and little else he was most certain.

Cautiously, he sat back up, slowly unraveling himself from the ball he had curled himself into. Before him was a thick cluster of black trees that he had not noticed before...or perhaps, they had not been there at all. He bit his cheek to distract himself from the questions that were cropping up all at once.There were a great many times where questions were necessary, but in this strange realm there was no satisfaction strong enough to bring him back from wherever these kinds of things might send him if he asked the wrong question.

“Here I am, Spirit,” he called out in a shaky voice across the distance between where he remained half-crouched and the patch of woods. The forest seemed to pulse, roots stretching out toward him like ghastly, black, tendrils. He tried to swallow a different kind of lump now, but it lodged itself stubbornly in his throat as if it was covered in barbs like thistle.

All at once in the blackness, dozens of sets of glowing red eyes opened at once, pupiless and yet still staring directly at him from the inky black shadows. Together, they all narrowed as if creased by a smile, and the strange grip on Marley’s wrists disappeared, but the smell only grew stronger until it made him feel faint.

“ _Good boy,_ ” the voice, voices, practically cheered, dropping off into dead silence for a few moments before continuing. “ _Come here._ ”

Marley got to his feet without thinking, but his whole being recoiled at the order. In life he would have bared his teeth and delivered a biting reply to match. But in this world? _No_ , he couldn’t. Though he had always been a man of great confidence and bluster it did him no good here. Instead he just felt small in comparison to the unyielding blackness of those trees, it’s edges still twitching unevenly against the rest of the space around it. A restless void in this otherwise quiet realm. Jacob frowned at the entity with reluctant acceptance. He more than felt small. He was small. These things, spirits, had power over him and held all the cards.

It was not a feeling he was used to, nor was it one he was particularly fond of.

“ _Be not afraid_ ,” came the voices again, though this time the words were more stilted as if reading. Jacob was not so far removed from existence that he could not recognize the familiar phrase from the Bible. But they came out hollow from this thing. Parroting what it thought would be comforting.

“I am _not_ afraid,” Marley replied with what little defiance still lingered in his belly.

“ _That is a lie_ ,” the mass of blackness and eyes replied with no small amount of offense. The eyes widened, and their glow was painful. Jacob winced, and the sensation of cobwebs grew stronger until it made his skin itch.

The void drew closer all at once...or rather, the space moved around it. Jacob fell to his knees, his hands held up defensively. “Apologies, Spirit. I didn’t...I did not think before I spoke.”

“ _Unsurprising_ ,” hummed the voices, all sharp edges gone and eyes duller, though the black shape still pulsed enough to make the ghost feel off-kilter and sick all over. His lip curled slightly, but this time he was wiser and held his tongue. He might have been stubborn, but wasn’t stupid.

Well, not usually.

“ _I will not ask you again, Jacob Marley._ ”

Marley sighed and looked at the entity that now was but a few steps away. He shifted his weight from side to side on shaky legs and stepped around to the other side of his headstone. The many-eyed blackness became still, and its strange gaze seemed to soften. Marley’s skin did not itch, and he stood a little straighter as he was regarded in a way he believed might have been thoughtful.

“Will you tell me your name? You know mine...”

The eyes narrowed into gashes, and there was a low rumble like the voices of a crowd. Not angry particularly, but certainly not amused. “ _Treowgewrid_ ,” it replied after a few moments. Jacob frowned slightly, which it must have noticed for it continued to speak. “ _Never mind what to call me, it does not matter. I brought you here for a reason. And you are curious. You are always curious._ ”

Jacob wondered if perhaps he ought to feel insulted, but the creature, whose name he had already forgotten how to pronounce, had not said it cruelly. It had been stated simply as a fact. If it knew his name it only made sense that it would know more than that. It was a realization that made Marley’s face flush with embarrassment and shame. 

There would be no place amongst the spirits where his sins would not be known.

“You said you were here to offer me a kindness,” Jacob nodded, trying to hold the gaze of all the eyes at once, his scraps of courage depleting. The spirit remained still. It seemed to be listening intently and did not speak. “What could you offer me? Not that I doubt your power,” he continued, tripping over his own words. “But I have already been granted rest. I have repented for my sins, genuinely and with everything in me. I have saved the soul of my dearest companion, but…”

“ _You are still restless._ ”

Jacob looked away, staring out across the endless expanse of graves. The stars seemed to dance and swirl before him, and he closed his eyes, suddenly quite dizzy. He pressed a hand into his stomach and took a deep breath before looking back up to see that the entity had not moved. Seemingly unaware or ambivalent toward the bout of discomfort its forwardness had caused.

“But I don’t understand,” Jacob replied, annoyed to find that his tone had become distraught, whiny even. He searched the sea of unwavering eyes that stared him down for the sympathy he thought he’d heard in the voices before. Some sort of tender understanding...but all he found were eyes. Bright and judging and patiently observing him. His heart was low in his stomach, and his knees wanted desperately to bend beneath that gaze. That gaze that left no room for him to make excuses and with nowhere to hide. That knew his pain and wanted to hear him speak it aloud. “Spirit I...I did everything I was supposed to. Why does it still hurt? Why do I still _ache_ like this? Why can’t I rest?”

Much to his dismay he felt himself grow more agitated, his breaths short and wavering. This wasn’t fair! Why should he suffer like this? What more could this world want from him? Did it simply want him bled dry? 

His eyes welled up with tears, and he hated it. He tried in vain to wipe them away, but they rolled down his cheeks freely no matter what he did. The ghost was embarrassed, but still, he could not stop. And the ache in his heart only grew and grew until it filled his whole being. Until it leaked out, and he let out a sob. How silly he felt, weeping before some strange creature who hadn’t even tried to harm him. God, he was pathetic. If that thing truly wanted to help him then surely it wouldn’t want to now with the messy display before them.

“Why are the spirits doing this to me? Haven’t I done enough?”

There was a brief silence and then a soft hum. Not thoughtful or judging but almost affectionate. Jacob could hardly see through the tears in his eyes, but out from the mass, for it no longer looked like trees, snaked two arms with sharp fingers. They slithered across the ground with such intent that Jacob was too startled to react, though his heart had leapt from his stomach into his throat. The hands found his head, one resting on either side of his face, thumbs wiping away his tears as if this thing was his mother, soothing him like he had scraped his knee.

And he let it. He let this thing cradle his face and comfort him as if he were some sniveling child. 

“ _Dear boy…_ ” it cooed. “ _Dear Jacob Marley, poor thing…it is not the spirits who do this to you. You do this to yourself._ ”

The crying did not stop, but Marley’s expression changed like a flipped switch. His brow furrowed, and his mouth twisted. He attempted to speak, but nothing came out but soft, confused, noises. The eyes regarded him silently, half-closed and calm. He shook his head, and the hands released him, but he did not move away. He could not get his feet to move. Every hair on his body was standing on end, but it was like he was locked in place. He shook his head again. 

“That...that makes no sense. Why would I do such...that’s ridiculous. But... _my soul._..shouldn’t it…I’m...what about Ebenezer?” he spluttered, feeling more and more ridiculous with each fragmented thought that fell from his mouth..

The voices scoffed, which Jacob did not appreciate in the slightest, but again he bit his tongue. He’d already proven that he had nothing worthwhile to say. “ _Ebenezer Scrooge’s soul is fine. Your soul remains as it was. You atoned, that has not changed…_ ” Jacob’s whole posture slumped as he let out a sigh of relief. The tears stopped, but everything ached as he sunk down onto his knees. “ _But you know the truth, don’t you?_ ”

Jacob scowled. “Do I?”

“ _You do. It is all you think about,_ ” the creature replied, voice still soft and sympathetic. It made Jacob’s skin crawl. 

“Please, Spirit, let it be…”

“ _If you will not admit to it aloud then I shall do it for you, Jacob Marley._ ”

“No, please...I don’t...”

“ _You know that these good deeds do not wash the sins of your past away. You can repent and repent, but lost lives cannot be brought back by apologies and remorse._ ”

Jacob closed his eyes, but in the darkness he could still see those eyes that stared at him and knew him and all that he’d done, all that he felt. Why were they doing this? Why could he feel those void-black tendrils cutting through his skin and squeezing him tighter and tighter. “Spirit...Spirit, _please…_ this hurts. It _hurts_. I can’t do this...”

But they did not relent.

“ _Damnation and destruction are no longer held over your head. You are no longer concerned with yourself. The powers that be are done with you, but you are not done with yourself. Ebenezer Scrooge is not the only one who can feel the weight of the deeds written upon his life…_ ” The voices became louder, and the shape of it stretched and twisted and spasmed as it became more frenzied. The ground shook as if it was pounded by the stomping of heavy feet, and the eyes grew wider and wider. “ _The deep ache in your heart is your own, Jacob Marley. The sharp edges of your guilt cutting through your thawed heart and making you bleed. That is what keeps you awake. That is why you cannot rest. Admit to this, pitiful man, and I will help you._ ”

The ghost’s eyes burned as he opened them, but he could not cry. The spirit’s words were true, and he felt wrung out as if everything had been expelled from him. He did not feel better, but he felt...lighter. The fog was gone, ripped from his mind by way of a vast, dark, being that would not lie to him.

“I know…” he weakly replied, cutting through the heavy silence. “I know it’s true...but what can I do? I’m dead, and the world still spins. I put nothing but ill into it while I lived.” He took a deep breath, and it caused his whole body to shiver. “Ebenezer has time to do good out there. To put his clarity of mind and purpose to work, but all I can do is rot and be sorry and...be _useless_.”

The spirit let out a low exhale and drew it’s tendril arms back inside itself. “ _And that is why I have come to you. I have seen your grief and tasted the pain in my mouth, and it cut my tongue like shards of glass. I pity you, poor creature, and I am intrigued by the ambition that not even death can rid you of._ ”

Jacob sniffled and shrugged. “Most would say it’s the stubbornness.”

A laugh. Or something like it. Whatever it was carried an alarming mirth to it that made Jacob shrink back. “ _Yes...it is that as well. But regardless...I have a task for you. A purpose...a way to do the good you so desire._ ”

Now, it was his turn to stare, unblinking and alarmed, his shoulders tensing to the point of stiffness. The entity did not flinch, did not bat a single pair of eyes, but stared back at him idly as if the words it had spoken were neither vague nor ominous. Jacob chewed his cheek as he tried to recall the times in life he had handled risky offers and uncertain bets. He’d never met a poker face like this one, and he was sure he never would again.

“Alright, Spirit,” he replied, regaining some confidence. “I will hear you out, but tell me, why should I trust your intentions.”

“ _Because I have no reason to trick you,_ ” they replied simply, and Jacob believed it. He could not say how or why, but a sort of ease came over him, and he nodded. He hated to be pitied, but he hated his situation more.

There was a sudden crackle that felt like lightning in the air as Treowgewrid’s form began to pulse and twist once more. It had long since given up looking like a thick gathering of trees, it’s pitch black body shrinking down smaller and smaller. The air was filled with snapping sounds like breaking bone and warping until it became something else entirely,

Something Jacob could name.

A dog, or something like a dog. It was large and hairy and just as black as the forest and spotted with those eyes like a setter, though none in the place where eyes ought to have been. Marley’s eyes widened as it opened, or rather...it looked more like it split itself like a wound where a mouth would be to reveal sharp, yellowed, teeth within a dripping maw. Jacob wrinkled his nose as black saliva dripped from its fangs and onto the pristine snow.

And worst of all, it wagged its tail as if nothing about this was ghastly.

“I know what you are, I’ve heard of you. A black dog...a…” His voice trailed off as he took in the sight of this horrid thing. 

He’d never put much stock into folklore and fairytales outside their use as simple entertainment, but those tales of ominous black creatures that brought gloom and death with them. They had distressed him so much that even his love for dogs had been rattled any time he’d caught a glimpse of a scruffy, black, stray on an evening stroll. It had always been enough to make him quicken his pace, though he had never mentioned this to anyone. Particularly not Ebenezer who had certainly no complaints about him showing up earlier than expected and who would have surely scoffed at him for succumbing to mere superstition. 

“No, absolutely not. You’re a _bad omen_. I will not be an errand boy of misfortune.”

“ _We are only a bad omen because humans fear death,_ ” the dog retorted, glowing eyes bulging and contorting its already unsightly anatomy. More of the black ooze it called saliva flowed from its limply open mouth and began to pool on the ground and started to flow across it toward Jacob, who all at once found his legs again and clumsily stumbled back. “ _But we are also guides, protectors, and a comfort to lost souls...not an omen but a warning and something to lean on as death claims you…_ ”

Jacob wrinkled his nose, arms crossed tightly over his chest. “I didn’t have any ghostly mongrels lead me to my grave,” he replied with no small amount of indignation.

“ _Because you did not lead a life that deserved one,_ ” the dog bit back, gaping maw unmoving. “ _And besides, when you died you were held close in the arms of someone who cared for you. Those your negligence killed were not nearly so lucky._ ”

Shame choked Marley once more, but this time it was tinged with the sensation of warm arms wrapped around him as the world slipped away and the sight of an expensive grave. There was no thought of rebuttal as his arms dropped back down to his sides. He could not defend himself against the spirit’s words, and he did not want to.

“ _You said you wanted to do good, Jacob Marley, and I am offering you good. Offering you purpose. You will not rest, you will not be idle. You will_ **_work_** _._ ”

Jacob was quiet a moment, thinking it over before finally nodding and offering his hand out to the creature. 

“Then it is a deal. It’s about time I actually did honest work,” he replied. “Let me be a hound. Let me protect the resting places of the dead. Let me guide the lost. It is the least I can do for having sent so many to their graves,” he continued, a frown creasing his face. His voice was even, not as confident as he would have liked it to have been, but at least it did not waver. 

“ _We do not need a handshake,_ ” the dog replied, sounding amused. It stepped toward him, but he did not move, did not flinch. It lowered its head, pressing it into his palm. It did not feel like fur or at all like anything Marley had ever felt on earth, but it was warm, and for the first time he did not feel the rotten pain in his chest. “ _We only need your word._ ”

“Then you have it.”

The dog hummed for a few moments...and then swung its head violently, horrid maw finding Jacob’s hand and biting down with impossibly sharp fangs.

Tendrils of inky black oozed from the creature’s head and up Marley’s arm, but he could not move, could not pull away for fear those teeth would rip more deeply into him. What color was left in his skin drained away to sickly pale, the blue and purple ropes of his veins now mixed in amongst the black wisps that crawled over him. The beast grew smaller and smaller in front of him as it engulfed him until nothing stood before him. 

And how his eyes glowed as fangs of his own grew in, digging into his lips. His spine snapped and twisted as it stretched out into a tail. It did not hurt, but he could feel thousands of hands pulling on his bones and stretching his skin as he was roughly pulled forward onto all fours upon the ground. Something within him creaked like a settling old house as his ribs shifted into place. Dark fur sprouted from his skin as his ears grew long and pointed, his mouth rapidly contorting to fit more teeth. Jacob tried to cry out in surprise as his fingers shortened and warped, but all that escaped him was a yelp.

And then, all at once, it ceased.

Jacob shook his head, new ears swiveling and tail twitching. He looked down at his paws, carefully lifting one and then another as he inspected each new limb. He could see no sign of a bite, but plenty of evidence of everything else. He’d been derisively called a mongrel before...deservedly so he supposed, but that did nothing to shake the feeling of strangeness that came over him. These paws were his. The tail, the snout...all foreign and yet he could feel them twitch and flick and sense the cold snow like any other appendage.

He was a stranger in his own body, and he rather liked it much to his surprise. It felt nice to be something other than the man that he’d been. Marley closed his eyes and took a small breath, glad that that ordeal was over with.

“ _What do you think?"_ Jacob started, his hackles raising. The voices were coming from between his ears now, and in the corners of his vision he could see the black tendrils slowly moving as if in a gentle breeze. “ _Does this form please you?"_

“If it didn’t, would I be able to change it?” 

“ _Hm...no, not exactly._ ”

Jacob felt his ears press flat against his skull, and he huffed. He supposed it being a cryptic creature was hardly a surprise, but it was starting to grate on his nerves.

“ _Do not fuss, Jacob Marley,_ ” the voices chided. “ _Now, is not the time to be ungrateful._ ”

“My apologies...” he replied, his tail drooping. “I’m still so used to knowing everything.”

“ _And so you will, with time._ ”

Tilting his head, the gesture much more suited to his current form, a curious growl rose in his throat.

“ _You must be patient, but you will learn. This new form and how to use it. Death and its tells will become second nature to you, it will be like instinct, a reflex._ ”

He frowned, a little disappointed though mostly in himself. Perhaps, he had agreed too readily to this, but what could he do now but nod? “I understand...but what if I do not listen? What if I run and do not heed, what then?”

The voices became loud as shrill, needle-sharp claws digging into his mind and his skin layered in with the distant sound of baying hounds. “ _If you take advantage of our kindness then we will hunt you down like a fox, and you will wish you were so cunning._ ” Jacob cried out in pain, and the sensation faded and the yowls ceased. However, the prick of claws still traced his skin, threatening to dig back in had he the nerve to try and be smart.

There was a silence as Marley stood frozen, unsure of what to do with himself and afraid of what would happen were he to try and move. The voices were quiet, but he could almost feel them thinking, considering, perhaps, just what sort of person they’d just recruited. He was starting to wonder too if this was the best fit, and his posture drooped...but no claws dug into him, and no harsh voices cried out. So, he let himself slump down into a sit and bowed his head.

“ _There has been no mistake,_ ” the voices said, softly now as they had before and clearly having felt his doubts. “ _You are a stubborn man, Jacob Marley, but we can feel it...the good in you, the good you want to do. You cannot surprise us, but maybe you will surprise yourself._ ”

Jacob picked up his head, his mouth opening to reply, but before he could he felt the world fall out from beneath him, and he was plunged into an empty blackness. No red eyes, no glittering stars, and instead of words there came a great cry from his maw as he flailed helplessly in the abyss, his new claws scraping against nothing but open air.

His mind was racing and he wondered, uselessly, if this had all been a trick that he’d been too eager to play into. But he didn’t have long to think about it before he landed with a surprisingly soft thud. His eyes were shut tight, though he didn’t remember closing them, and he was too shaken to open them right away. However, he could not so easily shut off his other senses. He could feel snow soaking into his fur and hear soft voices in the distance, far clearer than he ever had before. He could smell the dirt and the trees and dying flowers, but there was none of the iron or sickly sweetness that the spirit had carried with it. His nose was pressed up against something hard and cold...

Slowly, Jacob opened his eyes.

In front of him stood his headstone, dusted with snow and familiar. Still just as detailed and lovely as ever in the dim glow of sunset. He took a breath, and the winter air chilled him and cleared his mind. He was alone and grateful for it. He sat up carefully, noticing only then that there was something around his neck. He raised a paw to touch it; a broad, leather, collar with cold studs and a padlock that he knew too well. 

He pouted, but he supposed there were some reminders he could never truly be rid of.

Turning his head, he surveyed the world around him. There was no endless field of graves but only the same old rows that only went so far as the gate, and in the sky familiar constellations were starting to show. 

_Wait._

The voice was distant and low, but Jacob recognized the sound without hesitation, knew to be dutiful and obeyed it.

As the sun eased behind the horizon, Jacob sat there quietly, unsure of quite what he was waiting for. A few families came by to visit old plots and new and did not seem to notice the black dog that watched them from atop his grave. The old groundskeeper passed him by without a word, leaving behind the lingering scent of cigars and rust in Marley’s nose. Before long it was dark, and in the distance he could see the yellow glow of lanterns that tempted him to wander from his post with their warmth. 

And for a few moments he almost did, but then the wind changed, though it did not rustle the leaves in the trees or the fur of his coat. The dog felt his nose twitch and pick up the strange scent this wind brought with it. It was like pine needles and leather and was tired somehow, he thought, and it flowed down the snowy hill and out of the cemetery and into the city streets. It beckoned him like a sweet call and tugged at a place in his chest that felt dusty from disuse.

It was the smell of death...and like the spirit had told him, he could not mistake it for anything else.

The hound looked over his shoulder at his grave once more. Looked at the skilled lettering and read the name of the man who had only ever served his own interests and who did not deserve such a fine marker as that. The scent pulled at him again, and he nodded, getting up onto these new feet. At the end of this trail was someone else, someone that needed a sign, needed someone or something to guide them. Jacob breathed in deeply and let the fill his chest with warmth.

And so he chased it, charging through the snow and into the night with a sense of fulfillment he had never felt in life. His eyes were bright and his coat like a patch of starless night sky as he eagerly raced to serve something other than himself. 


End file.
